What is 3D Printing

What it is

3D Printing is a general term used to cover all aspects of Additive Manufacturing and Rapid Prototyping, it is a technology that turns 3D digital designs made using CAD (Computer-Aided Design) or other modeling software such as Google Sketchup or Creo Elements into physical objects that can be used across a variety of industries such as prototyping (for products in design), architectural models, TV/film special effects, decorative items and even finished production parts.

How it works

There are several different processes that come under the 3D printing umbrella (FDM,DLP,3DP,SLA,MJM) , but they all work on the same basic principle of converting a 3D digital design into thin cross sections and depositing material on top of each of these cross sections to produce a 3-dimensional object. Think of how a house is built ,using layer upon layer of blocks to produce a large structure 3D printing works by slicing everyday objects into hundreds or even thousands of thin layers and binding each layer together to create a physical object.

The material that you choose determines the process used to produce your model. Some processes can only produce monochrome materials and others can print in full colour, for more information on our material choices and the advantages of each please visit our materials section. Inspire 3D are committed to providing the latest technology and materials so keep an eye on our Blog to keep up to date with the latest news.

What our clients are saying

"I found Mark and the guys at Inspire 3D to be very helpful and professional. They took a real interest in my prototype and wanted it to be 100% perfect. I will certainly use Inspire again."

P. Fitzgerald

"I was really impressed at the cutting edge technology Inspire 3D have in-house. It was a real pleasure to work with an Irish business right on my doorstep to help guide me to produce my products."

D. O'Rourke

"Big thanks to Mark and team for producing my demo-prototype so quickly. It was even better than I had envisaged. I would have no issues recommending Inspire 3D to friends and colleagues."